Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Tropical
Africa: Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Volta and Chad basins. Sahelo-Soudanian basins and the coastal basins of the rivers Cavally, Bandama, Sassandra, Comoé, Mono, Ouémé, Ogun and Culufi; Congo basin. Two subspecies exist: Mormyrus rume rume: West Africa and Chad System; Mormyrus rume proboscirostris: middle and upper Congo River.
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 33 - ? cm
Max length : 100.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 31256); max. published weight: 5.3 kg (Ref. 2915); max. reported age: 6 years (Ref. 2744)
Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 72 - 95; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 16 - 21. Anal fin base 4.6-6.5x that of dorsal fin; 20-26 scales on caudal peduncle; body height 3.5-6.1x SL; height of caudal peduncle 1.3-3.0x of its length.
Affinities: look-alike of M. subundulatus and M. tapirus. Feeds on insects and larvae (Ref.13851). Generates electric organ discharge (EOD) of long duration that seems to correlate with territorial behavior of the species (Ref. 10460; 10601).
Bigorne, R., 1990. Mormyridae. p. 122-184. In C. Lévêque, D. Paugy and G.G. Teugels (eds.) Faune des poissons d'eaux saumâtres d'Afrique de l'Ouest. tome 1. Faune Trop. 28. Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, and ORSTOM, Paris. (Ref. 2915)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-2)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: commercial
Tools
Special reports
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Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01023 (0.00792 - 0.01322), b=2.83 (2.78 - 2.88), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 2.5 ±0.86 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Assuming tm=5-10; Fec < 1,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): High to very high vulnerability (73 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 187 [40, 394] mg/100g; Iron = 1.12 [0.44, 2.77] mg/100g; Protein = 18.4 [15.7, 20.6] %; Omega3 = 0.452 [0.181, 1.191] g/100g; Selenium = 96 [36, 210] μg/100g; VitaminA = 23 [8, 65] μg/100g; Zinc = 2.69 [0.60, 7.23] mg/100g (wet weight); based on
nutrient studies.